Retired Tennessee teacher Glenda Akin has lived and worked throughout history. And now she herself has entered history.

Akin, 84, is certified by the Guinness Book of Records as the teacher with the longest tenure in the same school.

“I loved my job. I didn’t mind getting up and going to school every day,” Akin said As it happens guest host Paul Hunter.

“My whole family left, so the school community, you know, more or less became my family.”

‘Lifelong commitment to education’

Before retiring last year, Akin worked at Westmoreland High School, first as a teacher and later as a librarian, for 61 years and 43 days.

He is a few years older than Guinness’s longest tenured teacher, Paul Durietz, who was 54 years and 61 days old in October 2024 at Woodland School in Gurnee, Ill.

Akin says she even worked long enough to watch one of her students grow up, become a school teacher herself, and then retire a full decade before her.

“Ms. Akin’s lifelong dedication to education has shaped generations of students and left an unforgettable legacy in our school and community,” it said. post on the Westmoreland High School Facebook page celebrating Akin’s achievement.

Akin says she’s taken aback by all the attention she’s getting. When Westmoreland shared the news, she expected only the school community to see it.

“But it went everywhere,” she said. “(I’m) even talking to someone in Canada about this. It’s just amazing.”

Bans on cell phones and books

Throughout her long career, Akin — or Mrs. Akin, as she is known at school — has mentored dozens of generations of students through periods of intense social and technological change.

She was born on December 7, 1941, the day Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaiidragging the US into World War II, and he began teaching in 1963, just a few months before the assassination of US President John F. Kennedy.

“That was the first big historical thing that came up in my teaching,” she said. “Then, of course, a lot of other things after that.”

She was there to see the introduction of computers into the classroom and the library system, and of course, the sudden explosion of students with smartphones – a problem that schools are still grappling with.

“I think it would be good if they removed them while they’re in school,” Akin said.

She also worked as a librarian at a time when school literature became a highly politicized topic.

According to the American Library Associationorganized efforts to ban books from US public and school libraries began to dramatically increase in 2021. Books with racial or 2SLGBTQ+ content are the most common targets of censorship, it said.

Similar battles were fought in Canadian provinces, cities and schools.

“As a librarian, I don’t think books should be banned,” Akin said.

“I don’t want pornographic material in the library and supporting things that are wrong. However, I don’t want someone else telling me what I can and can’t read. And I don’t think any parents should be telling other parents and kids what students can read.”

Just because Akin has finally retired doesn’t mean she’s resting on her laurels.

“I’m not ready to sit down and give up yet,” she said. “I want to move as long as I can.”

She is an active member of her local seniors organization, plays bingo and volunteers for her local and church libraries.

“So I’m very busy,” she said.